What Is Greek Raki?
Raki is an alcoholic drink made with distilled grapes and anise, and
popular in Greece and other Mediterranean countries, including Greece’s
neighbour Turkey.
Greek Raki Served with Fruit after a Meal
In Greece you’ll be offered different drinks at different
stages of a meal. Ouzo is very much a pre-dinner drink, an aperitif, either
neat or with water added. Metaxa is a kind of Greek brandy (though it technically
isn’t a brandy) and always served after a meal though also in cocktails.
When to Drink Greek
Raki
Greek raki, though, is very versatile. Some restaurants or
tavernas will offer you a glass on the house when you sit down at your table.
You can drink it during the meal, as it’s a good accompaniment to meze dishes
(the Greek equivalent of the Spanish tapas), and it also works well with oily
fish dishes.
Finally, it’s the perfect after-dinner drink too, and those
restaurants which don’t bring you a pre-dinner raki will probably bring you a
raki after your meal. Our favourite restaurants do both! Raki is especially
popular on Crete.
Greek Raki on the Table before a Meal
How to Drink Greek
Raki
As with ouzo, you can either drink raki neat or add some
water to it to water it down. Also as with ouzo, this turns the spirit milky. Those
who like neat spirits would throw their hands up in horror at the thought of
watering any spirit down, including raki, but others like the taste of raki or
ouzo but simply don’t care for the strong alcoholic content of the neat spirit,
and they water it down so that they can enjoy it. You can also simply pop an
ice cube or two into your glass. Whatever works for you.
Drinking Greek Raki Diluted with Water
What Does Raki Mean?
The name raki is derived from arak, which is an Arabic word
for something that has been distilled. Both raki and arak are a mix of
distilled grapes and aniseed. The word arak is generally used in the Eastern
Mediterranean and the Middle East, while raki is used in Greece, Turkey, and
other Balkan countries, and also in Kazakhstan for some reason. In fact raki is
the national drink of Turkey. Greece doesn’t have an official national drink
but its unofficial one is ouzo, which is like a more sophisticated version of
raki.
A Popular Turkish Raki
What is Greek Raki?
Raki is made from grapes not used in wine-making, that are
double-distilled and then blended with anise. Raki tends to have less of an
anise taste than ouzo, but like any drink the quality can be very variable.
We’ve had rakis that are so rough that they make your eyes water and we’ve been
unable to finish them. But we’ve also had rakis that are super-smooth and make
the perfect ending to a meal.
The History of Raki
Raki has been made for centuries but a popular belief is
that it was first made by monks on Mount Athos in the 14th century. We all know
that monks like making alcoholic drinks – they make wine in Germany, beer in
Belgium, chartreuse in France, and many other drinks in many other places. In
truth, though, people have probably made a raki-like drink with grapes left
over from wine-making for as long as wine has been made – which is for several
thousand years.
For a long time it was a drink that people made at home, and
because everyone made their own raki nobody bothered to make it commercially.
That changed sometime in the late 20th century when not everyone had their own
grapevines any more, and an increasing number of holidaymakers wanted to buy
raki to take home.
Raki or Tsipouro?
In Greece you’ll also find a drink called tsipouro. In some
places they are one and the same, and tsipouro is simply the local version of
raki. In other places tsipouro is a slightly different drink, as you can get
versions with or without anise added, but it’s usually hard for the average
visitor to tell the two apart. To complicate matters, in some places there’s
also a drink called tsikoudia. This too is a variation on the raki theme.
Bottles of Rakomelo
Rakomelo
Rakomelo is yet another drink but this one is made from
mixing raki with honey (meli) to produce
a drink that is sweeter than raki and not usually quite as strong. This is an
after-dinner drink and you can read all about it on our page about Making Rakomelo on Crete.
Other Greek food and drink pages
For a Crete olive oil tour Greece Travel Secrets visits Biolea, one of the few olive oil factories on Crete that you can visit.
Athens, an Eater's Guide to the City, is published by Culinary Backstreets, who do walking food tours in Athens and the book recommends the best places to eat.
Corfu olives are an important part of this Greek island's economy, with an estimated 3-4 million trees producing olive oil of exceptional quality.
Greek ouzo is an aniseed-based aperitif made all over the country but especially on Lesbos, tasting like a Greek pastis or arak and usually drunk with water.
The Goules Taverna in Goulediana, south of Rethymnon, has been called one of the best tavernas on Crete and Greece Travel Secrets recently visited them.
Greece Travel Secrets tours the Lyrarakis Winery on Crete and learns about Crete grape varieties such as plyto, dafni, vidiano, vilana, mandilari and kotsifali.
Greece Travel Secrets visits Crete and learns about making rakomelo from Jorgos Kourmoulis in Agouseliana.
The First Corfu Beer Festival took place in Arillas in North West Corfu and celebrated the beer of Bavaria and of Corfu, in the Ionian islands of Greece.
A visit to the Museum of Samos Wine to learn about the muscat grapes that produce the best dessert wines in the world and also the Greek spirit, Metaxa.
Greek food and drink is a highlight of any visit and Greece Travel Secrets brings you info about food and drink from all over Greece, from Athens to Zakynthos.
Athens culinary tours are among the food walking tours offered by an unusual company, Culinary Backstreets.
Two of the best cocktail bars in Athens, MoMix Kerameikos and The Clumsies, are making creative cocktails using that most Greek of Greek spirits, Metaxa.
Antonis Maroudas is a Zakynthos winemaker who lives on the 'wine road' and is one of the people who make Zakynthos.
If you're wondering where to eat in Athens and Piraeus we have a few suggestions including some favorites around the Acropolis, Omonia Square, and Syntagma.
Information for travelers on Corfu Food and Drink including restaurants and tavernas, Corfiot specialties, desserts, wine and other Greek drinks like ouzo.
Studies have shown the Cretan Diet as one of the healthiest in the world, involving lots of fresh fruit, vegetables, fresh fish, and moderate amounts of wine.
Athens Food Tours are being introduced by new company The Greek Fork, and will include tours of the Central Market, and the best street food.
What is Metaxa? Metaxa is an amber Greek spirit combining brandy made by distilling wine, sweet wine from Samos and a secret recipe of Mediterranean botanicals.
We visit and tour the Manousakis Winery on Crete with a wine-tasting and a chance to buy their tsikoudia, sea salt, olive oil and other goodies.
Corfu’s special cuisine includes dishes like sofrito and pastitsade and the chance to try ginger beer and kumquats.
The Greece Travel Secrets guide to tipping in Greece from two Greece travel experts, including when to tip, what to tip and when not to tip.
How to make Petimezi, the sweet Cretan syrup made from wine must, is explained to Greece Travel Secrets.
UNESCO has made Thessaloniki a City of Gastronomy, under its Creative Cities network, the only city in Greece to be acknowledged for its unique food and drink.
Greece Travel Secrets visits the Cretan Botano herbs and spices shop near Matala in southern Crete in search of the herb man of Kouses.
This Athens dining guide doesn't list restaurants but gives practical advice on types of eating places, tipping, hotel breakfasts and picnics.
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